


Taking Chances

by eirabach



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Bro angst, Gen, Volcanoes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26801854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eirabach/pseuds/eirabach
Summary: Scott + Alan + More Expendable Than You for bad things happen bingo on tumblr
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Taking Chances

This is the danger.

This has always been the danger.

Scott’s up here, and Alan’s down there and really, John ought to  _ know _ .

It isn’t like he wouldn’t do it too.

There’s a hole in the ground and a hole in Scott’s belly where he thinks, he _ thinks _ , he used to keep his stomach but it dropped right out oh, about ten minutes ago, and now it’s burning up in the lava flow right about where Pod B is creeping its way toward -- well. Hell, by all accounts. 

All accounts except John’s, anyway. 

John has other words for it. Long, scientific ones. Like  _ pyroclastic flow  _ and  _ rates of descent _ and -- 

And it’s possible Scott stopped listening somewhere between watching his youngest brother clamber up the side of a rumbling volcano and the thunder that followed, and now there’s ash billowing from one hole and bile from the other and he doesn’t really have time for this. At all.

“Say again, Thunderbird One?”

“You heard me, John.”

“I heard  _ someone  _ suggest something  _ unutterably  _ stupid. Are you  _ sure _ you don’t want to try again? That ash cloud isn’t staying up there all day, Scott, and you do  _ not _ want to be under it when it drops.”

“I can beat it.” There’s the John equivalent of a long, pregnant pause. “I  _ can _ .”

“You can’t just  _ demand --  _ that isn’t how physics --”

“I don’t give a  _ damn _ about  _ physics _ , John!”

A voice pipes up from the smoking, burning fields below. “Uh, do I get a say in this?”

“No!”

“No.”

“Right.” Alan sighs, “I mean I am the one on the ground so --”

“Shut up, Alan.”

“Hold your position, Pod Explorer. Scott --”

But Scott’s done with listening, already out of his seat, helmet on, jet pack primed. He sets Thunderbird One to hover outside of the range of the ash cloud, and kicks at the emergency egress button. 

“Save it,” he says, and jumps.

And it works -- at first. He roars down toward the little yellow dot below, boosters at full power, and honestly John worries way too much about  _ all  _ the wrong things. Scott’s got this and then he’s gonna get Alan and then --

Ah. And then. The wind changes, ash blinding him as it sticks to his visor, settles heavy on his shoulders. Makes his jet pack whine and stutter and --

He hits the ground with a grunt, not quite hard enough to really hurt, but enough to wind him, and the jetpack takes most of the impact anyway. Which is just as well, really, because as he sits up -- gingerly, not that he’d admit it -- he realises,  _ oh. _

“Uh, John --” The piece of land he’s landed on is  _ maybe _ ten feet square, the edges crumbling into a bubbling, stinking lake of fire. “I may have a situation.”

Even through the sound of the ground cracking around him, the sputtering of the lava around his little island, the howl of the dying volcano, he hears the sigh -- "Alright. You asked for it."

\---

On the other side of the volcano, Two is ferrying the unlucky denizens of the closest campground to safety and Virgil -- Virgil sounds pissed.

“EVA. Under an ash cloud that’s gonna drop blocks of rock the size of Four on your head. Of course, why wouldn’t you?” Alan’s pretty sure he can hear a migraine forming just from the tone of Virgil’s voice. “How long?”

“Under current atmospheric conditions? Less than three minutes.”

“2.5074,” Eos pipes up cheerfully. “And counting.”

“I can’t -- I have fifty people to get to safety here Scott!”

“I know, I don’t expect --”

“No? Now we’ve gotta worry about  _ you _ as well!”

“No one needs to worry about me!”

"Oh well that’s okay then, hope you've got your best boots on." And then there's Gordon, sticking his oar in. “Since you’re gonna be tap dancing your way to a fiery  _ doom _ ."

"Right this moment I'd pay to see that."

"I  _ can  _ hear you you know."

"Oh it's just  _ selective  _ hearing loss then?"

Alan drops his head to the dash with a metallic thud. 

"Uh, you ok?" His rescuee looks pretty uncomfortable squeezed into the back of the pod. Listening to International Rescue bickering is probably not helping.

“I'm  _ really  _ sorry about this."

"Hey, no. I got a brother. I get it."

Alan hits his baldric with a grimace.

"Thunderbird One hold  _ your  _ position."

"Ala --"

"Do as you're  _ told  _ for once Scott."

He has no idea if the answering silence is due to shock or muting, and he doesn't honestly much care.

His fingers tighten around the Pod's controls. He could -- he  _ ought to  _ \-- ask John what to do next, but John's kinda got a  _ lot _ going on right now with the whole 'evacuate an entire county while simultaneously dressing Scott down to the size of a newt' thing. But the clock is ticking and the hiker in the back is sweating and -- 

And this is his goddamn  _ job _ , isn't it?

Pod B makes its delicate way over the cracked crust of the lava flow, and Alan keeps his eyes fixed on the route ahead -- on Scott -- instead of the billowing threat 200 yards away.

"What do you think you're doing?"

He grits his teeth, counts down from ten. " _ Rescuing _ an  _ idiot _ ." Then, because he feels like it. “ _ Duh _ .”

Already Alan can see the rock beneath Scott shifting with the currents, and they’re slow enough now but that cloud’s coming down and Scott’s gonna be -- 

“No.”

“Excuse me?” Alan extends the Pod’s legs and sends up a swift, silent prayer that Brains’ heat proofing stands the test. “I’ll be one minute and then we can --”

“Alan, no. Back off.”

Pod B pauses, one spindley toe dipped into the lava field between Alan and Scott. “Say what now? Look Scott, I dunno where you were during third grade history but lemme tell you what happened to the people in Pompeii cause it was --”

“Get out of here, and that’s an  _ order _ .”

“You gotta be --” Alan’s denial is cut short, a block of volcanic matter as tall as the Pod and twice as wide slamming into the unstable ground to his right. The hiker whimpers. “Oh  _ man _ ! Okay. okay!” He sets the Pod skipping through the pools, smoke and steam obscuring much of what’s in front of him until Scott’s just a vague blueish blur. “Get ready to jump on cause uh, I ain’t gonna have time to roll out the red carpet or anything --”

“I said,  _ leave _ .”

“Nuh huh, not happening, hang on just two more seconds --”

“Alan!”

He skids to a halt at the edge of Scott’s little island and shoves the door open.

“Come on, come on, come on!”

Scott -- Scott  _ backs off _ . Alan gapes at him.

“What are you --”

“I said  _ go _ !”

“And leave you to  _ roast _ ? What, like you’re expendable now?”

“Well -- well maybe I’m just more expendable than  _ you _ .”

It hits him harder than any pyroclastic flow ever could. His heart skips a beat, six, starts up only to try and climb out his throat and god, he might actually be  _ sick _ . He might just straight up vomit his entire heart out onto the floor’ cause that only sounds over dramatic but what Scott’s threatening -- what Scott’s  _ doing -- _

Alan narrows his eyes. Wills his heart to stop trying to beat its way through his chestplate.

“I have never heard anything so stupid in all my  _ life _ . Get in. Or I’m getting  _ out _ .”

They stare at each other. Somewhere in the back of his mind Alan faintly recognises the sound of his hiker having a panic attack. He thinks it’s the hiker. Maybe it’s him. Doesn’t matter. What matters is that Scott’s still just  _ standing  _ there and their two minutes is  _ up  _ and --

Gordon’s voice is grim, serious, and man there is gonna be one  _ awkward _ family dinner tonight.

“Alan, grab him. By the balls if necessary.”

Alan does as he’s told. Scott’s almost twice his size and weighed down by a jetpack but he hardly even  _ notices _ , dragging him up through the hatch and launching him in the direction of the definitely semi hysterical hiker. Two’s grappling hooks hit them at the same moment Scott lands half in the poor guy's lap, and Alan points a shaking finger at him as he tries to stagger to his feet against the sway of the Pod.

“Stay there. Say nothing.”

They rise towards Two’s belly in a perfect, awkward silence that’s broken only by the  _ clang _ of the pod doors opening and the shuddering breaths of the unfortunate hiker.

Alan docks the Pod with far more force than is really necessary. Scott grapples to keep his footing again, and a little dark part of Alan thinks  _ serves you right _ . The hiker clears his throat.

“Uh -- thank you. I um -- I can get out now, right?”

Alan grunts, and pulls the lever for the exit. The hiker skitters down the ladder and disappears into the vastness of Two’s belly. He’ll probably get lost there, too. Alan will have to remind Virgil to drop him off. Somewhere. Whatever. His hands are shaking and his face feels hot and Scott’s looking at him all  _ oh no what’s the matter _ like he doesn’t  _ know.  _ Like he’s  _ forgotten. _

“Alan, I really -- I don’t understand what you’re so upset about?”

“You think it’s a  _ compliment _ ? So -- so what? I’m the youngest, I’m the baby so  _ fuck  _ the rest of you right?”

“Alan!”

“Oh my -- I’ve got ears, you know! Ears and -- and  _ feelings _ and I don’t think I ought to be all  _ touched _ that you apparently think the best thing for me is to leave me  _ on my own _ .”

“That isn’t what I meant --”

“No.” He spins round, face hot and fists tight. “No, but it’s what you  _ did _ . What you  _ do _ . And you -- one day you might  _ actually _ \-- and I have to  _ live _ with that? No.” He shakes his head, wills the furious burn to stay behind his eyelids. He won’t cry. He  _ won’t _ . “Never. Don’t you  _ dare _ .”

Scott blinks at him.

“Sorry,” he says, and it’s all cool and calm and  _ ugh _ . “But if it comes down to you or me --”

“What about me or Virgil? Or John, or Gordon? Huh?” Alan takes two steps forward and jabs his finger into Scott’s chest. Scott stares down at it, nonplussed. “What, do you  _ rank _ us?”

“No! No of course not!”

“So what is it then, huh? Cause I dunno if you’ve  _ noticed _ but by the rules of the universe you can only die for  _ one  _ of us.  _ Once _ .” And  _ dammit _ , dammit his breath is coming in stutters and his eyes are  _ leaking _ and -- “I lost dad, I don’t remember mom, I don’t -- I can’t --”

And Scott wraps his arms around him and squeezes, tight. 

“I’m sorry I frightened you, kid.”

Alan groans into Scott’s dusty flight suit. “I wasn't  _ scared _ . And I’m not a  _ kid _ .”

“Uh huh.”

The steady rise and fall of his brother’s chest helps him to regulate his own breathing, the thud of Scott’s heartbeat a steadying force as he risks looking up. 

He doesn’t have to look up quite as far as he used to. Not quite.

“Doesn’t matter anyway,” he says. “You won’t be able to try it again.”

Scott’s eyebrows tick up.

“No? You gonna stay home next time?”

“Not  _ likely _ ,” he sniffs. “John’s gonna kill you, you know.”

“With you around to rescue me?” And Scott’s smiling, hand in Alan’s hair, and he lets himself smile back because -- because this is what matters, isn’t it. This is what isn’t, won’t, can’t ever be  _ expendable _ . “I’ll take my chances.”


End file.
